Psychology of School Shootings: Warning Signs & Helping Children

Originally published May 30, 2022. Last updated September 2026.

When a school shooting occurs, parents usually have two immediate questions: Why would someone do something like this, and what should I tell my children?

Following the Uvalde school shooting in May 2022, I was interviewed by both Action News Jax and News4JAX to discuss those questions from two different psychological perspectives.

With Action News Jax, I focused on how parents should talk to children after a mass shooting, how much information children need, how social media can amplify fear, and when concerning behavior should be reported.

With News4JAX, I discussed behavioral warning signs, violence risk, possible motivations, and what we know about individuals who carry out targeted school attacks.

Several years later, the subject remains painfully relevant. The most important thing I would emphasize today is that there is no single psychological profile of a school shooter. Prevention is much more complicated and much more behavioral than trying to identify a particular personality type.

10 Tips for Talking to Children About a School Shooting

I recorded the following video after the Uvalde shooting to give parents practical guidance for having these difficult conversations.

1. Start by Finding Out What Your Child Already Knows

Don’t assume you know what your child has heard.

Children may have heard information from friends, teachers, television, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, group chats, or other sources before a parent ever brings up the subject.

Start with a simple question:

“Have you heard anything about what happened?”

That allows you to correct misinformation without unnecessarily introducing frightening details the child did not already know.

2. Make the Conversation Appropriate for the Child’s Age

Young children generally need simple information and reassurance.

Older children and teenagers may want considerably more detail and may ask difficult questions about safety, weapons, motives, police response, politics, or whether something similar could happen at their school.

The National Child Traumatic Stress Network recommends using clear, age-appropriate information while allowing children to ask questions and express their feelings.

3. Don’t Flood Children With Graphic Information

More information is not always better.

Repeated exposure to disturbing video, photographs, social-media posts, rumors, and graphic news coverage can intensify anxiety.

Children can also see the same footage repeatedly and experience it as though something new keeps happening.

The National Child Traumatic Stress Network specifically recommends monitoring and limiting repetitive or frightening media exposure following mass violence.

4. Reassure Children Without Making Promises You Cannot Keep

Parents naturally want to say, “That could never happen here.”

I would be careful about making absolute promises.

A better approach is to remind children of all the adults working to keep them safe: parents, teachers, administrators, school-resource officers, law enforcement, counselors, and other trusted adults.

The objective is not to convince children that the world contains no danger. It is to help them feel reasonably safe in the world despite knowing that bad things sometimes happen.

5. Be Careful About Reinforcing Avoidance

After a school shooting, some children may understandably become afraid of going back to school.

In my Action News Jax interview, I discussed why automatically allowing a child to avoid school because of fear can sometimes make the feared situation even more difficult to return to later.

That does not mean ignoring a child’s distress. It means helping the child work through the fear while gradually returning to normal routines when it is safe and appropriate.

6. Watch for Changes in Behavior

Children do not always express distress by saying, “I’m anxious.”

Parents may instead notice:

• Difficulty sleeping
• Nightmares
• Increased clinginess
• Irritability
• Difficulty concentrating
• Changes in appetite
• School avoidance
• Withdrawal
• Repeated questions about safety
• Physical complaints such as headaches or stomachaches

Some short-term distress after learning about mass violence can be understandable. The National Child Traumatic Stress Network notes that children and teenagers may temporarily experience anxiety, irritability, concentration difficulties, sleep changes, and a stronger desire to stay close to caregivers.

7. Teach Children to Tell an Adult When Something Concerns Them

This is one of the most important lessons parents and schools can teach.

If a young person hears someone talking about seriously hurting themselves or someone else, sees threatening communications, learns about plans for violence, or observes behavior that creates a genuine safety concern, they should tell a trusted adult.

That is not “snitching.”

It is potentially protecting somebody.

Modern school-violence-prevention research places considerable emphasis on bystander reporting because concerning communications or behaviors are often noticed by other people before an attack occurs. The Secret Service has found that reporting and intervention can play an important role in disrupting planned school violence.

There Is No Single “School Shooter Profile”

This is an important update to the way people sometimes talk about school violence.

There is no reliable demographic or personality profile that identifies who will become a school shooter.

The U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center studied targeted school attacks and found that attackers differed in age, academic performance, social characteristics, and other personal factors.

Trying to identify a potential attacker because someone is a loner, unpopular, angry, depressed, bullied, socially awkward, or interested in unusual subjects produces too many false positives and can stigmatize people who pose no threat at all.

The Secret Service therefore recommends focusing on behaviors, communications, circumstances, stressors, access to weapons, grievances, planning, and other information relevant to an individualized behavioral threat assessment.

School Shootings Usually Do Not Have One Simple Cause

People understandably want an explanation after something horrific happens.

Was it mental illness?

Bullying?

Anger?

Family problems?

Social isolation?

Access to weapons?

Ideology?

Revenge?

Usually, reducing an act of targeted violence to one factor is too simplistic.

Secret Service research has found that attackers often had multiple motives and multiple problems occurring in their lives. Grievances, interpersonal stress, troubling communications, violent interests, behavioral problems, psychological symptoms, family difficulties, and access to weapons may all become relevant in different cases.

The combination and trajectory matter more than any single characteristic.

Mental Illness Does Not Equal Violence

This distinction is especially important for psychologists.

Millions of people experience depression, anxiety, ADHD, trauma, autism, personality difficulties, or other psychological problems and never commit serious violence.

Having a mental-health diagnosis by itself does not tell us that someone will become violent.

Likewise, a person can pose a serious behavioral threat without fitting a simple psychiatric stereotype.

The better question in a threat assessment is not merely, “Does this person have a diagnosis?”

It is, “What is this person doing, communicating, planning, experiencing, and moving toward?”

Warning Behaviors Should Be Taken Seriously

Although there is no profile, there can be concerning behaviors.

Depending on the situation, those may include:

• Direct or indirect threats of serious violence
• Communications about plans to hurt others
• Increasing fixation on violence or previous attackers
• Specific grievances combined with threatening behavior
• Research, planning, or preparation for an attack
• Efforts to acquire or access weapons in a concerning context
• Suicidal thinking combined with threats toward others
• Major behavioral changes that generate concern among people who know the individual
• Social-media posts or other communications suggesting intent to harm

No one item proves that somebody will become violent. Context matters, which is why concerning behavior should be evaluated rather than interpreted through a simple checklist.

Threat Assessment Is Different From Profiling

Behavioral threat assessment asks a different set of questions.

Rather than asking, “Does this person look like previous school shooters?”, the process asks questions such as:

• Has the person communicated an intent to harm?
• Is there an identifiable grievance?
• Has behavior progressed from thinking to planning or preparation?
• Does the person have access to weapons?
• Have other people become concerned?
• What major stressors or losses are occurring?
• What protective factors and supports are available?
• What intervention may reduce the risk?

The Secret Service recommends multidisciplinary threat-assessment processes that gather information and focus on intervention and management rather than relying on stereotypes.

Social Media Can Provide Important Information

Social media has changed both how threats are communicated and how children experience mass violence.

Someone considering violence may communicate grievances, threats, violent interests, or intentions online.

At the same time, children who have absolutely no connection to an attack may suddenly see graphic photographs, rumors, videos, manifestos, and frightening commentary repeatedly appearing in their feeds.

Parents should therefore talk with children about both sides of the issue:

• What to do if they encounter threatening content
• Why they should show concerning posts to an adult
• Why rumors should not automatically be treated as facts
• Why repeatedly watching disturbing material can increase distress
• Why threatening posts should not be casually reposted or amplified

What If Your Own Child Makes a Threat?

Take it seriously.

That does not mean assuming your child is going to commit an act of violence.

It means not dismissing serious threats as “just joking” without understanding the context.

If your child talks about killing themselves or other people, communicates serious violent threats, appears to be planning violence, or has access to weapons in a concerning situation, seek immediate professional and safety assistance.

In my Action News Jax interview, I specifically advised parents not to ignore statements about harming oneself or other people.

When Should Parents Seek Psychological Help After a Shooting?

Many children experience temporary fear or distress after hearing about a tragedy and gradually return to their usual functioning.

Professional help may be appropriate when symptoms are severe, persistent, worsening, or significantly interfering with:

• School attendance
• Sleep
• Concentration
• Friendships
• Family functioning
• Normal activities
• The child’s ability to feel reasonably safe

The National Child Traumatic Stress Network recommends seeking professional help when reactions persist or interfere significantly with a child’s functioning.

Learn More About Counseling for Children, Teens and Parents

My Work in Forensic Psychology, Trauma and Violence

Psychology and Breaking News

I have been providing psychological commentary to television, print, digital media, podcasts, and social media for many years.

School shootings are among the most difficult stories to discuss because journalists are trying to answer questions at a time when families and communities are still processing enormous loss.

My role in those interviews is not to sensationalize the person who committed the violence. It is to help people understand what psychology can tell us, what it cannot tell us, what behaviors should concern us, and how parents can help children cope with frightening events.

The 2022 Action News Jax article identified me as a forensic psychologist and relied on my guidance about age-appropriate conversations, avoiding reinforcement of fear, monitoring social media, recognizing concerning behavior, and reporting threats. News4JAX separately featured me to discuss motivations and warning signs associated with mass shootings.

View More of My Media Appearances and Psychology Commentary

Useful Resources for Parents and Schools

• 
  National Child Traumatic Stress Network: Talking to Children About Mass Violence
  
• 
  National Child Traumatic Stress Network: School Shooting Resources
  
• 
  U.S. Secret Service: Protecting America’s Schools
  
• 
  Learn More About Forensic Psychology at D’Arienzo Psychology
  

Frequently Asked Questions About School Shootings and Psychology

Is there a psychological profile of a school shooter?

No. U.S. Secret Service research specifically concludes that there is no accurate or useful profile of a student attacker. Behavioral threat assessment should focus on the individual’s communications, behavior, circumstances, stressors, planning, and other case-specific information.

Does mental illness cause school shootings?

There is no single explanation for school shootings, and having a mental-health disorder does not mean someone will become violent. Serious violence generally needs to be understood by examining multiple behavioral, situational, interpersonal, and environmental factors.

Should parents talk to young children about a school shooting?

If a child is aware of the event, parents should generally provide simple, truthful, developmentally appropriate information, answer questions, and offer reassurance. Avoid unnecessarily graphic details.

Should parents let frightened children stay home from school?

Every situation is different, particularly if there is a specific safety concern. When the fear is an anxiety response rather than an actual threat at the child’s school, prolonged avoidance can reinforce fear. Significant anxiety should be discussed with an appropriate professional.

What should a child do if another student talks about committing violence?

Tell a trusted adult. Depending on the seriousness and immediacy of the information, that could include a parent, teacher, counselor, administrator, school-resource officer, or law-enforcement professional. Serious threats should not be kept secret.

What should parents do if their own child threatens suicide or violence?

Take the statement seriously and seek appropriate professional or emergency assistance. An imminent threat to the child or another person requires immediate safety intervention.

This page provides general educational information about trauma, targeted violence, behavioral warning signs, and helping children after mass violence. It is not an individualized violence-risk assessment or treatment recommendation. If someone presents an immediate danger to themselves or others, contact emergency services or appropriate local authorities.